mind

Life is full of stressors. Sometimes hard work doesn’t seem to pay off, and sometimes it takes a long time to get where people want to get. It’s easy to get swept up in the negativity and to make unhealthy life choices.

But making positive life choices ultimately leads to a more healthy and fruitful existence, even when those choices are initially hard to make.

Below are some tips and tricks to feeding and cultivating a more positive lifestyle.

Journal

One of the biggest new trends in lifestyle development is the practice of mindfulness.

Mindfulness can be practiced through meditation, journaling, therapy, or a number of other mediums. Mindfulness is the process through which a person attempts to be entirely present in each moment, rather than thinking about the future and all the things they want to achieve, the past, or some event or goal that is not yet happening.

Mindfulness is a great way to be appreciative of the present moment, regardless of what that moment holds. Mindfulness journaling can be used to meditate on the joys and pitfalls of the present moment, and to ground the individual in the positivity of the present.

Journaling can also be utilized as a way to recall and store memories. After a great day out on an adventure with friends, or a good conversation on the phone, journaling can culture an appreciation of this memory by recalling it and recording it. Then, this memory can be revisited later, sparking even more joy and thankfulness.

Journaling overall can be a huge addition to the positivity in an individual’s life. Journals can also be daunting. For this reason, many advise keeping a one-line-a-day journal, in which each day a line is written about a positive experience from that day, this way they don’t get overwhelmed or feel bad when they cannot keep up with extensive journaling for every day.

Create a Fresh Start

The closet is full of clothes, but there is nothing to wear. All the books on the bookshelf have already been read, or have never and will never be read. Last year’s junk is piling up, leaving no room for positive changes in a new year.

A big clean out of the house or the apartment is a great way to make room for new memories and new positive experiences in life. Utilizing the system of a keep, give away, or throw away is useful. And items kept in the keep pile should have a significant reason for being there.

Many claim that the best way to decide what to keep a clothing item is to hold it while asking three questions: is it a special occasion or seasonal garment; has it been worn in the last three months; and does it bring joy. If the garment does not fit one or more of these categories, it should be given away or thrown away. The same types of questions can be applied to other types of items in the home as well.

Cleaning out the closet and giving items to charity can be a cathartic experience and leaving empty space for new clothes and new items is a wonderful way to build excitement and to invest in the future.

After the big clean out, space can be carefully curated to hold only items of importance that make the homeowner happy to look at and to wear or utilize.

Taking pride in personal items and getting rid of items that don’t bring that sense of pride, happiness, or sentimentality is a wonderful way to invest in positivity and to live a more positive lifestyle.

Have an Adventure

Individuals wishing to live a more positive life need to remember to invest in themselves, their future, and their happiness. This means that while an adventure might not be practical at the time, planning and budgeting for the future is a wonderful investment in themselves.

This self-investment breeds eternal positivity because it reinforces self-love and self-compassion, as well as the fact that every individual deserves happiness and positivity. Even if an adventure is seemingly out of reach financially, like a backpacking trip through Europe or skydiving, a loan from Payoff.com can make it easier and closer than it might seem.

Using a personal loan, individuals can go on a nature-driven vacation to visit a national park, backpack a trail, or camp with friends. Maybe someone’s dream vacation is to see the Eiffel Tower, or Big Ben, or the Statue of Liberty, or even a show on Broadway. Taking a beach day is an adventure as well.

The inherent positivity of an individual investing in their own happiness is one of the biggest leaps one can take in the quest to live a more positive lifestyle.

Ally Gonzales is the founder & editor-in-chief of RunningSoleGirl. Along with blogging she is also juggling attending college and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with a Sports Management minor.

If there is one goal which we would all generally agree to being important, it is to remain as fit and healthy as possible for as long as possible. However, put this way, it doesn’t really tell us much. The truth is that there is much more to it than it at first appears, and getting to grips with that is the first essential step towards understanding it more fully. As it turns out, anyone who wants to improve their health in any big and lasting way will benefit massively from understanding a little about the psychology behind it all. Fortunately, such psychology is easy to understand and will help you with any health goals you hope to achieve. Let’s take a deeper look into the world of psychology to understand the relationship between mind and body a little better.

A Two-Way Relationship

It is often helpful to think of the relationship between health and mind as a yin and yang situation. In one sense, being healthy helps to promote a more positive psychological outlook, and improves mental well-being. But at the same time, fostering a healthy mindset is always going to improve the effectiveness of any decisions you make regarding your physical health. It might be beneficial to visualize the mind and body relationship as a swinging door: no matter which way you push it, it comes back the other way with equal force.

Alternately, you might want to go the way of certain spiritual traditions, and consider the mind and body to really just be two parts of the same machine. Seen from this perspective, it makes little difference what you do for one or the other. Improving your mind strengthens your body, and boosting your physical health likewise brings about more positive and beneficial states of mind. We all already know that getting the mind and body in harmony can have hugely positive effects. This is made all the easier by considering that they are really just one thing anyway. Understand the basic nature of this relationship as well as you can; it will help you no matter what you attempt to do to improve your health.

Building A Strong Foundation

Seen from that viewpoint, it is clearly beneficial to try and build a strong foundation from both the physical and mental sides of the equation. If you look at http://trainingtips.com/strong-foundation/ you will get a good idea of what we are going for here. The better the foundation, the starting point, the more effective any subsequent actions to improve one’s health will be, so this is worth looking into at your earliest convenience. In truth, there is practically no end to what you can do to bring about this harmonious foundation – but there are particular first steps which are worth attempting.

For a start, it is a good idea to try and clear both mind and body of any particularly toxic substances. In the physical realm, this means avoiding any genuine toxins which your body probably doesn’t appreciate having inside it. In many cases, this is extremely difficult to do, especially if those toxins are highly addictive substances which you have been dependent on for some time. If this applies to you, consider visiting somewhere like www.orlandorecovery.com to try and rid yourself of the addiction. It might take a long time, but it will be worth it.

On the mental side, getting rid of toxins means working to remove the basis of unhelpful and damaging thought patterns. This, again, is for many people the work of a lifetime. You might even say that useless mental chitter-chatter is something of an epidemic human disease. Nonetheless, you can make small changes each and every day to gradually do away with these types of thoughts. Take up a meditation routine, even just half an hour a day, and you will be well on your way with this side of the bargain.

Keeping The Balance

Your main mission now is to continue to try and keep the balance between body and mind as you work on improving your health. There are countless fitness and health goals which you might be set on achieving. Regardless of what yours are, you should try to ensure that you always work towards them with both body and mind in the center of the issue at all times. This will ensure that you do not focus too heavily on one to the detriment of the other – a common but often unseen flaw which upends many attempts to improve one’s health. Put simply, you need to work on both improving your physical and mental well-being at the same kind of pace.

The Physical Side

When it comes to looking at improving your physical health, there are a number of easy and common changes which you might want to make. If you feel that you have become sluggish, then the first port of call will be to simply get moving in whatever way you can. This might mean going for a jog every other day, or it might even be something much smaller, to begin with. Whatever it takes, make sure you go at a speed which will not cause too much stress to either side of the equation. Take it as slow as is necessary in order to enjoy it, but as fast as you need to in order to see those changes you want to see.

The Mental Side

Of course, in tandem with this, you will want to think about tending to your mental side. This means continuing with that daily meditation practice, for a start. But it’s also a case of keeping stress at bay, killing it the moment it arises within you. This practice alone will do plenty in terms of keeping you centered and healthy, and you might be surprised at what a difference it really does make overall.

Health only comes to you when you focus in a balanced way on both your body and mind. Focus on those aspects of wellbeing which tend to both, such as good nutrition and plenty of rest, and you will be well on your way to greater health.

Ally Gonzales is the founder & editor-in-chief of RunningSoleGirl. Along with blogging she is also juggling attending college and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with a Sports Management minor.

While often used as a comedic device, the idea of being able to “walk off” an injury is nevertheless a persistent one. Trip and fall while out running? Walk it off! Stretch too far during a yoga class? Walk it off! However, here are some reasons you shouldn’t walk off an injury.

The whole idea is based on a fundamental lack of understanding about the human body. While there are some injuries which are temporary – momentary spasms of pain that will recede on their own – there is a huge threat caused by trying to “walk off” an injury that can’t be walked off. Of course, you have no way of knowing if the injury you have sustained can be walked off before you try it – but what happens if you give it a go, and what harm are you doing if you’ve calculated incorrectly?

Think About R.I.C.E.

You’re more than likely aware of what “R.I.C.E” means in an injury capacity, but if not, let’s be clear – it’s not this:

What it actually stands for is the way that you should handle an injury:

R – RestI – IceC – CompressionE – Elevation

While you might think you will always know which injury needs the R.I.C.E. treatment and which doesn’t, you’re probably incorrect. R.I.C.E. is not just for those sudden, sharp injuries like turning your ankle – it should also be used for gradual stress injuries, that you might not even notice are building up.

As a rule, if you feel persistent pain – no matter how mild – in any area of your body, it needs to be R.I.C.E-d.

However, learning about the AlgaeCal plant calcium side effects and researching the latest exercise techniques does not mean that you have the power to see into the future. How do you know the pain you’re experiencing in the moment is the kind that won’t benefit from rest?

Put simply: you don’t. It’s great that you have educated yourself on the supplements you should be taking if you exercise regularly and know your way around dealing with workout aches and pains, but you can’t predict the future. It’s far better to stop the moment you feel pain and make a clear-headed assessment of what’s happening to you.

Pain Isn’t Embarrassing

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the “walk it off” line is often used in comedic terms – i.e. someone walks into a door and is told to “walk it off”. This suggests that pain is an embarrassment, the fault of the person who is feeling the pain.

This isn’t the case. It might be embarrassing to trip over while running, but the pain itself should never be a cause for shame. Bodies go wrong. We make mistakes, miscalculate, and hurt ourselves – it’s completely natural. What is embarrassing is trying to carry on when your body is telling you to stop, thereby inevitably making life worse for yourself. Don’t fall into this trap; if something hurts, stop, evaluate, and then make a decision on how to proceed – no matter what anyone else thinks.

Ally Gonzales is the founder & editor-in-chief of RunningSoleGirl. Along with blogging she is also juggling attending college and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with a Sports Management minor.

Everyone knows running is a great way to get into shape. It’s not a secret! But do you know that running can also benefit your mind? Have you ever wondered how running influences your brains? If you haven’t now it’s the time to realize the benefits of running for your body and mind.

So, let’s start… How does running influence your body and brain?

Stimulate Memory and Learning System

People who prefer to sit on the sofa instead of morning run can’t show off a good memory and learning as their brains are slowly dying away. Fit people and those who like exercising have a better ability to concentrate, solve different memory test better and combine multiple tasks easier.

Reduce Stress, Anxiety and Help with Depression

Stop Deterioration of Brains with Age

With aging, the human brain can begin to deteriorate but running prevents or reverses this process as it affects brain chemicals. Running boosts the production of new nerve cells and blood vessels within the brain that’s why the runners’ brains have better metabolic efficiency and getting old later than non-athletes’.

Help to Burn Calories

Running is considered as one of the most effective ways to lose weight and keep in shape. It is a unique type of exercise as you can burn calories not only when you work out but also and after training. Such effect is called “afterburn”.

Prevent Disease

Research shows that running is a nice way to increase your overall level of health and it means that running helps to reduce or prevent the risk of disease. While you’re running the level of good cholesterol in your blood raises. As a result, the lung function of your body increases, you enhance your immune system and the risk of developing blood clots becomes lower.

Make Your Heart Stronger

One more useful characteristic of running is the ability to take care of your heart health. Regular runs are the best prevention of heart disease. Running has the magic impact to your health. It can reduce the risk of heart attack, lower resting heart rate and reduce blood pressure.

Strengthen Your Bones

Running also helps to strengthen your bone health. If somebody says that running damages your bones don’t trust this person. The repeated impact on your bones and joints during your regular runs makes to build thick calcium layers in the bones and they gradually get stronger.

Prolong Your Life

It is no big secret that people who exercise at least 30 minutes, five times a week live longer than those who lead passive lifestyle. When you start running you give up bad habits, you promote your health and don’t allow your brain to age. Of course, all this helps you to extend your life.

Here you’ve read about the best benefits of running. As you see running can be considered as a universal workout as it useful both for your physical and mental health. How has running improved your body and mind? Please, share your thoughts with us.

None of us can deny that nature knows what it’s doing. If you want proof, you only have to look around you. Ants are a perfect example of nature doing its thing, and doing it well. Each ant knows their place in the anty ranks, and they know what job they need to do. No one tells them. They don’t have existential crises or wonder if they’re on the right path. The same cannot be said for humans. Going back thousands of years, we may have known what we were doing. But, we often feel lost in the modern age. We could get into philosophical debates about why. Did Eve eat the apple and that kind of thing? But, for the most part, we’ve lost our way because we stopped listening to nature.

You could apply this theory to many aspects of life. But, we’re going to take a look at what effect it has on our health. Our bodies function without conscious thought. We breathe, our hearts beat. And, we’re hardly aware of it. In that sense, nature still holds our reins. But, in other ways, we have turned the democracy of our bodies into a dictatorship that isn’t working.

You only have to turn on the news to see that we’re more unhealthy than ever. It makes no sense because medicine is better. No one can deny that we’re living longer. But, self-induced health problems, like obesity, are on the rise. So, why aren’t things working from a health perspective? In a lot of ways, it’s because we ignore nature. We let our heads decide how we treat our bodies. There’s no denying there’s a link between body and mind, but are we using it in the right way? The results would suggest not.

Instead of listening to our bodies need, we do what we want. Our bodies have no say. We choose diets, not because our body needs them, but because they sound like a good idea. Is it any wonder we often fail in our fitness pursuits? And, it’s not only diets that are guilty. We often push ourselves too far in the exercise stakes, too. If your body is hurting, it’s telling you it’s had enough. Don’t continue to push through!

So, what can we do to solve the problem? The simple answer is nothing. Stop doing anything, and give nature a chance to take control again. You don’t need to make the decision to go on a diet. If your body wants a weight loss cleanse, it’ll tell you as much. If you need to do more exercise, you’ll get a craving to do so. Listen to what your body is telling you!

There’s no denying that our knowledge can help us in many ways. But, it seems to be more of a hindrance when it comes to our bodies. Not only have we lost touch with nature, but we’ve also lost touch with what’s good for us. It’s time to make a change.

Ally Gonzales is the founder & editor-in-chief of RunningSoleGirl. Along with blogging she is also juggling attending college and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with a Sports Management minor.

A lot of people are so focused on getting their body fit and healthy that they forget all about their mind. Your mind needs, training, exercise and health treatment just as much as your body. In fact, did you know that a lot of experts recommend that everyone goes to see a mental health professional at some point in their life? We’ll look at why that is a little further down, but this clearly shows the importance of thinking about your mental health. So, how can you look after your mind and what benefits will this bring?

Brain Exercises

You should avoid binge watching TV if you can, no matter how tempting it might be. Instead, watch TV in short bursts every so often and spend more time reading and solving puzzles. Crosswords are great brain exercises that really get those electrons firing. That’s exactly what you need to keep your mind in tip-top shape. If you do this, you can even reduce the chances of developing problems such as Alzheimer’s later in life. Many people with the early signs of Alzheimer’s have discovered that brain teasers slow down the progression of the disease. You can read more about this on https://alzheimers.org.uk/.

Therapeutic Treatment

Therapy is about tackling the issues that are causing you stress and anxiety. A lot of OT companies now work with big business to make sure that all employees are taken care of in this aspect, and that’s hardly surprising. Most of the stress that we face in life is due to our career and our job responsibilities. If you have a look at a site such as http://theotpractice.co.uk/, you’ll see that you can easily arrange to speak to an OT yourself. They will help you achieve your goals in life and conquer the road blocks that are stopping you from succeeding.

Meditation

Do you constantly feel stressed and overwhelmed in your life? You might want to think about meditation. You don’t have to spend hours meditating to see the effects. Instead, you can simply squeeze in a few hours a day. To meditate all you need to do is clear your mind. Try using some relaxing music and setting quietly with your legs crossed and your arms loose by your side. Practice controlled breathing, and you should feel your body calm down. At this point, you will be entering a stage of meditation. When you have finished meditating your mind will feel clearer, and your body might feel stronger too.

Sleep Tight

Of course one of the simplest ways to keep your mind healthy is by getting a good night of rest. You may not realize this, but sleep is the body’s natural way of healing itself. If you’re not getting enough sleep, you will find life more stressful, and you might even see physical changes such as bloating or loss of hair. To get a good night of rest, try switching off all the electrical devices in your room. You can learn why you should do this by reading http://dailymail.co.uk/. Exercise a few hours before bed then lie back and let your body drift naturally to sleep. You should wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and ready for the day.

We hope you see now why it’s important to look after the mind as well as the body when you’re thinking about your health.

Ally Gonzales is the founder & editor-in-chief of RunningSoleGirl. Along with blogging she is also juggling attending college and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with a Sports Management minor.

It’s important to understand how the mind impacts the body and how the body affects the mind. There is a link there that you might not be aware of and it could be impacted your health right now. There are many ways how we feel can change our body.

For instance, you might be feeling stressed. Stress can have a variety of causes. For instance, you might be dealing with some difficult deadlines at work. If you feel as though you’re not going to make the deadlines, you might think your career is in jeopardy. If that’s the case, it would be naturally to experience increased levels of stress.

What you might not realize is that this stress will have an effect on your body too. Stress can lead to hair loss, weight gain and even damage to the skin. That’s why if you want to stay healthy, it’s in your best interest to try to stay as calm as possible.

Interestingly, physical actions can impact your levels of stress and the way you feel. For instance, exercise has been shown to reduce tension. This might be because it gives the mind something else to focus on. Or, it could be due to the fact that when you exercise your body releases endorphins that do make you feel better, even for a short time. Here are some of the other relationships between the body and the mind.

You Are What You Eat

These words are truer than you might think because diet does affect mood and how we feel. Chocolate, for instance, is a mood elevator and triggers the same endorphins in the mind that are associated with love.

People with bipolar disorder are even advised to stay away from foods with high levels of sugar. A key piece of bipolar depression info is that people with this condition have highs and lows. You might have noticed a similar effect just after you consume something high in sugar. For a while, you feel happier and then you sink again. You can imagine how difficult this can be for someone whose mood is already affected by a medical condition.

Just Smile

Smiling isn’t just about showing someone else that you’re happy. Research shows that by smiling, you actually increase your own happiness levels, even if you’re not actually feeling that great. You might wonder then how there can be any such thing as smiling depression. Well, the effects of smiling on your own happiness levels are quite minimal and certainly won’t completely alter your mood. However, the impact is strong and clear enough to be noticeable on a brain scan.

Calm Your Mind

This connection is particularly interesting. Studies have shown that Buddhist monks who have spent their lives meditating actually form new pathways in the brain and may increase cognitive intelligence. There is still a lot of research occurring investigating this phenomena, but it certainly points to the possibility that meditation can be good for your health.

We hope you find these connections useful because understanding them could have a definite impact on your life and your level of fitness.

Ally Gonzales is the founder & editor-in-chief of RunningSoleGirl. Along with blogging she is also juggling attending college and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with a Sports Management minor.

Spiritual healing and development is one of the best ways to get a sense of well being and contentment. By healing yourself spiritually and developing in any way you can, you’ll likely become a better person and improve your life in so many ways. However, there are a few things you may not realize about heading down the spiritual path. Read on to find out what they are…

It Might Get Worse Before It Gets Better

When you take a spiritual path, things usually get worse before they get better. This is because it tends to bring up a bunch of stuff you may have been ignoring, or things you may not have dealt with properly yet. Life is all about learning lessons, and if you haven’t learned yours, you’re going to have the same situations and feelings crop up until you do. There’s a lesson to be learned in everything, and you may need to deal with things like past trauma before you can move forward. This can be painful but so worth it.

Meditation Shouldn’t Be Optional

You should have a few spiritual practices that aren’t negotiable, and meditation should really be one of them. You don’t just have to sit still to meditate. You can do walking meditations, and even meditate as you shower or go about your chores. You can do this by adopting some kind of affirmation or breathing practice.

However, if you would like to try the traditional form of meditation, there are so many apps out there to help you. Not only is mediation perfect for spiritual healing, it will help you to develop at the same time. Sticking to a short practice each day can be difficult, but again, it’s worth it. 10-15 minutes every day is only a very short percentage of your day, and the benefits you’ll get from meditation can be vast.

Natural Methods Are Always Best

Natural methods of spiritual healing and development are always best. Some people try to use illegal, dangerous substances to help on their journeys, but this isn’t recommended. Instead, you can look at sites like Ibogahealing.com to get the best results on your path.

Negative Thoughts Are Slowing You Down

We all have negative thoughts from time to time, about ourselves, our lives, and others. These thoughts are slowing you down. Training your brain to stop entertaining and reaching for these thoughts can be hard, but you should notice huge improvements in your life. The way you judge others says more about you than it does about them.

You Probably Won’t Reach Enlightenment

This might sound like a bad thing to you, but reaching enlightenment like Jesus or Buddha is extremely difficult, almost impossible, and becoming obsessed with this state can really slow you down. This isn’t to say you never ever will (there are infinite possibilities in this universe), but getting too focused on it as an end result may prevent you from progressing in the long run, and you might get stuck in ‘ego mode’ without realizing it.

Ally Gonzales is the founder & editor-in-chief of RunningSoleGirl. Along with blogging she is also juggling attending college and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with a Sports Management minor.

No one embarks on a fitness program with the view that they’ll ever end up back where they started; which is part of the struggle of staying healthy. You take a breath and begin counting calories, eating healthily, or start a gym routine and when you do it you do it with the best intentions. Than watch the pounds fall off and the inches shrink away all due to your hard work and determination. You eat better than ever and you finally make it to goal weight.

Once you get to goal weight, you must adjust your currently weight loss lifestyle to suit one of maintenance and that’s where most people slip up and fall. Getting healthy is one thing, staying healthy? That’s a big struggle. It’s not because you don’t want to keep up the lifestyle you’ve achieved, but it’s a transition from losing weight to maintenance and reverting to old habits can seem so easy! Whether you’ve achieved your goal by yourself at home, or you’ve achieved your goal with the help of a weight loss clinic, it isn’t easy to stay at that goal weight and it takes a lot more grit than losing the weight in the first place. With these tips, you can keep the weight off and enjoy life as much as you always have at your goal weight:

Remember the Changes

The key to keeping the weight off and staying at your ideal weight is down to the long-term changes you make. The changes you made with your food need to stay the same or as close as possible. By sticking to lower calories and upping your protein intake, you can feel fuller for longer and be less likely to snack throughout the day.

Planning is Key

Planning your meals and sticking to that plan is going to help you maintain healthier eating habits. This includes eating out and family events that involve food – plan for those meals out so that you can make informed decisions. There’s no reason you can’t enjoy a night out with your friends – if you stick to your plan you can be happy and comfortable.

Keep up the Activity

Your exercise routine may have been vigorous while you’ve been losing the weight so scale back slightly and change up your routine. Instead of working out seven days a week, aim for five instead!

Support will always help. Talk to your doctor, your friends and your family about your weight loss and your maintenance goals. You need to have the right support to maintain how well you’ve done.

Ultimately, your health is going to depend on your level of willpower and your ability to stick with your new, healthy habits instead of thinking that just because you’ve reached your goal, you’ll be able to keep your new health and fitness with pizza! Reverting to old habits will also revert you back to that mental health state you were in before you embarked on your fitness journey. Don’t go back there, stay focused and stay healthy.

Ally Gonzales is the founder & editor-in-chief of RunningSoleGirl. Along with blogging she is also juggling attending college and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with a Sports Management minor.

Unlike our bodies, we presume our mental health will take care of itself. When we decide to overhaul our lifestyle and focus on fitness, we often forgot to pay attention to our mental state. Our physical state matters a lot, but so does our brain performance, stress levels, and focus. Find out how we all improve our mental health and the benefits of improving it……

Ally Gonzales is the founder & editor-in-chief of RunningSoleGirl. Along with blogging she is also juggling attending college and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with a Sports Management minor.